Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 25, 1993 TAG: 9302250320
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
FLEMING WRESTLERS GET SHOTS AT TITLES AFTER ALL
William Fleming wrestling coach George Miller can rest easier now.His star performer, Keno Shepherd, still has a chance at that elusive state championship.
So does 171-pounder Eddie Jones, a junior who was unbeaten until the Group AAA Northwestern Region tournament. He's still going to the state tournament after suffering his first loss of the season and finishing third in the region.
He's back - and how
Miller said after Shepherd was beaten in the regional duals competition and in last week's Roanoke Valley District finals that Shepherd would be back. The senior rallied in resounding fashion to win the 112-pound Northwestern Region championship.
Last year, Shepherd lost a controversial match in the 103-pound final. It's a loss that has stuck with the coach and the wrestler.
Bad luck has plagued Shepherd this winter. First, he matured some and grew out of the 103-pound class. Then he injured his ribs.
"Once he was injured, Keno could not condition. He gained so much weight, it was difficult for him to get back down to 103," said Miller.
In the district meet, Shepherd was pinned in the final. It was embarrassing for sure; but, as Miller says, those things happen.
"He got caught by surprise. That's part of the game. It's happened to the best, but I'm still as confident of Keno as I ever was," said Miller.
Shepherd hasn't been wrestling that long. As a seventh-grader at Ruffner, coach Alvin Graves asked Shepherd to come out for the team.
"I was playing around with some guy in practice. He was heavier than me, but I thought I might as well try it. I liked it right away," said Shepherd.
He never dreamed he would have so much success. Shepherd won a district title as a sophomore but didn't place in the region meet after being beaten by a wrestler he had pinned three times during the year.
"I think Keno sometimes gets overaggressive. He wants to do well for the team. He knows he has to set an example as a leader, and he sometimes gets overaggressive," said Miller. "After losing in the duals, he worked harder going into the district this year than at any time since he's been at Fleming."
Shepherd says wrestling in the higher weight class hasn't been easy.
"I'm used to wrestling guys a little lighter. It's difficult to get used to going against people nine pounds heavier," he said.
Shepherd has had trouble holding a lead. He led his opponent in the duals 8-0 and was ahead 5-0 when he was pinned in the district.
"I tired myself out [in the duals] and made some stupid mistakes," said Shepherd. "It wasn't the pressure, it was just some sloppy wrestling."
He plans to avoid that in the state tournament.
All-around athlete
Jones has a chance to win letters in three sports for four years at Fleming. He won't be alone in that accomplishment; Mike Souma, another junior, is on the same path.
Besides wrestling, Jones has lettered in football and baseball. He was a second-team All-Timesland running back and might have made the first team if it hadn't been for an ankle injury.
His best days are ahead in wrestling, and Miller says he expects Jones will do well this weekend in Richmond at the state tournament. Jones, a 171-pounder, was plagued by injured muscles in his chest that might have slowed him in the Northwestern Region.
"He came to us as a good athlete and was good enough to start [wrestling] as a freshman," said Miller. "Keno is the only other freshman who has started.
"Eddie has gotten much better. He's more physical, aggressive, and he's confident."
So what is he better at, football or wrestling?
"It's close, because he's shown the same intensity in both sports," said Miller.
The Colonels junior, who is regarded as one of the Roanoke Valley's best prospects next year, says he likes football better.
". . . Because I've been playing it longer," said Jones, who started wrestling in eighth grade under Craig McClellan, who followed Graves at Ruffner.
"I was kind of scared at first, but I saw what they were doing. I started beating some of them, and that got my confidence up," Jones said.
People warned him that wrestling for Miller wouldn't be easy.
"They told me about all the jumping jacks. But when I got up here, I found it is only as hard as you make it. But you have to work if you want to win," Jones said.
Actually, Jones has been playing baseball longer than he has any of the other sports.
"It's not my worst sport; it's just the sport that doesn't get the most publicity," is all Jones will say when comparing the three sports.
He already has made a visit on his own to Penn State for football. Jones says he pays scant attention to the recruiting letters from various colleges.
He has family in Jefferson Forest, and some of the better players off the Cavaliers' Group AA Division 3 state championship team are his cousins.
"They tell me to come to Forest, but I'm not going to do that," said Jones, who has the potential to take the blue and gold of Fleming far before his career ends next year.